Brenda Berkman, First NYC Female Firefighter

Brenda Berkman served the City of New York for 25 years before retiring in 2006 as a captain in its storied Fire Department. Her bravery was two-fold: Berkman, a summa cum laude graduate of St. Olaf College, was practicing law with a New York University J.D. when, the Department grudgingly began to allow women to test for firefighter positions in 1977. The young lawyer and FDNY applicant challenged the fairness and relevance of the newly intensified physical test, and won a federal sex discrimination lawsuit that truly opened the Department to female firefighters for the first time. Berkman was among the first class of women hired.

Captain Berkman has led organizations of women’s firefighters in both the New York City and nationally while earning one Master’s in American History and another in Fire Protection Management. Berkman’s deep commitment to the FDNY and to the people of New York has long outlasted the sexual and workplace harassment that came with her pioneering career. To honor friends and colleagues who were lost on 9/11, she volunteers as a guide for walking tours at the Tribute WTC Visitor Center in Lower Manhattan.